The Onions are In

Published on April 15, 2011April 15, 2011 by The Garden Smallholder

I planted the onions last weekend, I’m growing Sturon which is a good all round white onion and Red Baron, sweet and perfect for salads. I grow onions from sets which are basically little baby onions already grown from seed. It’s really easy to grow onions from sets, just push them into the ground approximately 4 inches apart with the tip (pointy end) just poking out of the soil and keep them weed free and well watered during prolonged dry weather. You can buy onion sets from garden centres or online seed shops to plant out in spring, there are autumn planting varieties too. Onions grown from sets mature faster than onions grown from seed.

This year I’m trying my hand at companion planting by growing onions next to carrots, this combination is meant to help repel both carrot fly and onion fly. A little tip to stop birds from disturbing your newly planted onion sets can be found here.

7 thoughts on “The Onions are In”

christsavesme says:

April 15, 2011 at 11:28 pm

I did some companion plantings last year and it worked very well. Good luck with the garden!

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Carolyn @ Urban Veg Patch says:

April 16, 2011 at 5:54 am

Wow, scary moment there! I thought that was a photo of your onions THIS year!! Cue extreme panic – then rational thought took over. Phew! (I’m reading this at 6.30 a.m. perhaps I should go back to bed.) Good sowing technique – worked for me last year as I had no nasties on me carrots – until I lifted the onions, then had bugs that looked like fluffy grey aphids around the tops of the carrots. Another tip: harvest carrots in the morning and take away ALL the thinnings! Good luck! Caro xx

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The Garden Smallholder says:

April 16, 2011 at 9:18 am

No, last years onions! ;)

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Mo says:

April 16, 2011 at 10:59 am

Snap! Same onions :)
Do you have any Shallots?

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Flighty says:

April 16, 2011 at 6:41 pm

I grow Sturon which I’ve always found to be an excellent variety. I planted my sets three weeks ago and the leaves are now several inches high. xx

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meemsnyc says:

April 17, 2011 at 6:41 am

I grew onions like that last year. This year I’m trying it from seed.

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Michael says:

July 13, 2011 at 7:28 am

I’ve grown onions pretty successsfully in the past, but I run into problems in storage over-winter. I dry them & hang them properly, but by mid-winter they’re starting to dry rot. I’ve enquired on other web-sites but no one has a good answer. Perhaps GB is just too cold & damp to over-winter onions outside a permanently heated environment.

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